Retail Technology January February 2012

08 EVENTSNEWS

RETAIL’S BIG SHOW GROWS

The 101st National Retail Federation (NRF) BIG show, held in New York this January, saw over 25,000 retail professionals from 78 countries around the world. Chris Field, Retail Technology consultant editor, noted that there were more UK retailers in attendance than ever, largely being hosted by the major vendors – Torex for one, which manned a major stand – and US vendors with major Europe, Middle East And Africa (EMEA) operations had more regional representatives than ever before. “The mood was upbeat and not just because we were in America,” Field reported. “I went two years ago, and the feel was very different. This time, the US is coming out of recession and, unlike the UK, its banks have largely paid back their government loans. The organisers, from whom the BRC [British Retail Consortium] could learn a thing or two, fronted the whole conference with statistics about the US retail market – one fi fth of GDP [gross domestic product] and 42 million jobs. “There was no theme, as such, But most of the exhibitors were talking about the customer: Microsoft neatly summed up where retailers now need to be, delivering customer experiences that are personal, seamless and differentiated.” HP was another major vendor

refl ecting the focus on customer-facing technologies that create a “seamless” multichannel store experience, even launching its fi rst ever self-checkout machine at the show. Kobi Elbaz, HP retail product manager

in EMEA, told Retail Technology: “Most retailers have advanced systems for understanding their customers online. Our proposition can deliver as seamless an experience in the store. So context-aware digital signage can recognise the gender of who is in front of it and offer a link to a loyalty card, for example.” Field said customer focus immediately showed up the relative strengths and weaknesses of most of the vendors on show: “Some had clearly not recognised just how far the market has, and is, changing.” This he concluded, combined with increased budgetary pressure, will all make selection and procurement still as hard as ever for retailers.

EUROCIS 2012: ALL SIGNS POINT TO GROWTH

E

uropean retail technology trade fair EuroCIS, which will be held from 28 February to 1 March

2012 in Düsseldorf, is gearing up for record levels of attendance. “EuroCIS 2012 is completely sold out despite a considerably increased show area,” said Elke Moebius, Messe Düsseldorf EuroCIS director, adding that the exhibition will be 15% larger than the previous event in 2010. This year welcomes a special fashion

sector-focused track in the conference programme, which itself has also been extended to more comprehensively cover multichannel IT trends from as far as fi eld as the UK, US and Mexico, as well as Germany. Speaker highlights will include the e-commerce director for Toys “R” Us in Central Europe and Prof. Dr Mahrdt from the Cologne University of Applied Sciences. Dr Kai Hudetz, chief executive if the Cologne Institute for Retail Research (IfH), added: “We are particularly delighted that, in addition to the exciting lectures, we will also be presenting exclusive results from our new multichannel study in the B2B [business-to-business] sector.” In addition to the knowledge-

sharing opportunities offered by the conference, the European Retail Technology Awards (RETA) will once again highlight global, best practice sector-specifi c IT use. And 223 exhibitors from 24 countries will be participating in the exhibition, which constitutes a 40% increase from the previous show.

RETAIL TECHNOLOGY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

“This positive reaction confi rms the value of the overall concept of EuroCIS and, at the same time, demonstrates that the portfolio extension was an important and correct step,” added Ulrich Spaan, member of the managing board of the EHI Retail Institute in Cologne, which co-sponsors EuroCIS. More than 5,500 trade visitors from the top management levels of the international retail sector are expected at EuroCIS 2012. The full conference programme,

exhibitors listing and details of how to attend are available on the www.eurocis.com website.

EVENTS

EuroCIS 2012 28 February to 1 March 2012 Messe Düsseldorf, Germany www.eurocis.com

Retail Business Technology Expo and Cards & Payments Solutions 2012 13 to 14 March 2012 Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London www.retailbusinesstechnologyexpo.com

Internet Retailing Expo 21 to 22 March 2012 National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham www.internetretailingexpo.com

◆ The next, March/April issue of Retail Technology magazine will deliver all the latest trends from the major retail IT trade shows. In addition to further reports from NRF, the issue will also feature a review of February’s upcoming EuroCIS trade show in Germany and a comprehensive preview of the UK’s own Retail Business Technology Expo in March.

◆ E-commerce trade body IMRG will host the Annual General Meeting for the European Multichannel and Online Trade Association (EMOTA) at Retail Business Technology Expo and Cards & Payments Solutions 2012, which takes place from 13 to 14 March 2012 at London’s Earls Court, South Hall, as part of a partnership to deliver an in-depth multichannel and e-commerce focus.

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